Badawi Blames World’s Problems On Western Conquerers

Understanding religion could help West bridge ties with Muslim nations

By MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR

merga@thestar.com.my

MADRID: The West and Muslim nations must find solutions to arrest the slide in relations between them, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday.

Telling the West to understand that Islam is a religion respected for its cultural and religious diversity, Abdullah said the teachings of Islam could not be faulted for the discord between the Muslim world and the West.

“The problems which continue to fester in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Golan Heights, Lebanon and Palestine are vestiges of the projections of power by the centres of world power.

“The resulting humiliation being felt by Muslims is the main cause of their loss of trust and confidence towards the West.

“But we have to acknowledge that finding solutions to these strategic issues have now become intertwined with the problem of managing cultural and civilisational diversity. The way forward for arresting the slide in relations is to resolve these two sets of problems in tandem because they are inter-dependent,” he added.

Browsing copy: Abdullah, seated next to Belkhadem, browsing through his working papers at the First Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Madrid yesterday. — Bernama

Addressing world leaders and foreign ministers at the First Alliance of Civilisations (AoC) Forum here yesterday, Abdullah said Western governments should not feel uneasy that Muslims were seeking to live in accordance with the principles and values of the Quran and the example set by Prophet Muhammad.

“They should acknowledge that there are civilisations today that continue to uphold religious values in the public sphere even if many Western governments and societies do not.

“Accepting diversity demands an open and accommodative attitude towards religion, and specifically towards religions other than one’s own,” he added.

The Prime Minister said a Muslim who was true to his religious teachings would not separate the principle of accountability from political governance simply because he wanted to perpetuate his power.

“Neither will he subordinate justice to the creation of infinite wealth and defend it in the name of economic growth.

“He will not abdicate the principle of fairness in managing ethnic relations even if it makes him somewhat unpopular within his own ethnic community. This is the approach adopted by the government in Malaysia and we call it Islam Hadhari.”

The AoC was created in 2005 on the initiative of Spain and Turkey under the auspices of the United Nations.

The two-day forum is the first major event of the alliance. It aims to tackle fear and suspicion, bridge gaps and overcome prejudices between Islam and the West.

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Unlike his predecessor Mahathir who just blamed the Jews for the world’s failings…

“The problems which continue to fester in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Golan Heights, Lebanon and Palestine are vestiges of the projections of power by the centres of world power.

“The resulting humiliation being felt by Muslims is the main cause of their loss of trust and confidence towards the West.

Badawi goes for one-upmanship and blames the entire Western hemisphere!

Oh, of course! It’s all the West’s fault for all its imperialistic conquering in… What, the past 100, 200 years? Or all the way back to the Crusades?

Nothing is to be said, of course, about the other projections of power by the centres of world power stretching back 1400+ years.

But of course those particular campaigns of murder, enslavement and plunder did not lead to festering problems. Not like thehateful Western colonial dictators causing all sorts of offended feelings in the modern era, nosiree!

After all, those silly Christians just love to forgive and forget after they’ve been summarily brutalized and by unprovoked invasions, don’t they?

And as for why Western governments might feel slightly uneasy about masses of people following certain historical examples…

Don’t they know how ‘Accepting diversity demands an open and accommodative attitude towards religion, and specifically towards religions other than one’s own‘?If the West only understood religion, they could bridge ties with Muslim nations!

But theydon’t! Haha, what morons they have over there in the unenlightened West!

2 Responses to “Badawi Blames World’s Problems On Western Conquerers”

So the West is to blame for Islam’s terror war against the entire planet. Nine out of 10 American college professors probably agree. If this sort of idiocy didn’t resonate with Western liberals, Muslims wouldn’t bother to spew it. They would stick to the tried and true “Convert or die.”